Prosecutors added one more murder charge to the case of a Portland man already accused of killing three women.
Jesse Lee Calhoun now faces four counts each of second-degree murder and abuse of a corpse for allegedly killing the women and then dumping their bodies throughout the metro area during a five-month span in late 2022 and early 2023.
The woman named in the new indictment — Kristin Smith, 22 — was previously identified as a possible victim of the same killer, but no charges had been filed until now.
Prosecutors said they believe Calhoun killed Smith on Nov. 20, 2022. Her skull was discovered in the woods of Southeast Portland’s Pleasant Valley neighborhood on Feb. 9, 2023.
While declining to discuss the case in detail, Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez said Tuesday that the investigation remains “very active.”
“We are dedicated to pressing forward to obtain justice for these victims and for their families,” he said at a news conference.
The indictment in Smith’s death is the first significant update to the notorious case in more than a year, when Calhoun was charged with killing Charity Lynn Perry, 24, Bridget Webster, 31, and JoAnna Speaks, 32.
Speaks died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck, authorities have said, but prosecutors have not disclosed how the other women died.
Speaking to reporters outside the downtown courthouse, the mother of Kristin Smith recalled the mix of heartbreak and solidarity she felt last year as she joined with the families of the other slain women for Calhoun’s arraignment.
Her own daughter’s name was missing from court documents then, but Melissa Smith said she was undeterred.
“We searched together, we fought together and we never gave up,” she said, calling her daughter a “beautiful soul.”
The original May 2024 indictment ended months of frenzied speculation about the spate of disappearances, which had prompted denials from Portland police officials despite later evidence that the cases were connected.
Calhoun pleaded not guilty to the first indictment in Multnomah County Circuit Court in June 2024. He remains in custody at Inverness Jail in North Portland and has not yet been arraigned on the new allegations.
Prosecutors have released almost no details about the case, but family members of the slain women have said each of the women struggled with addiction and homelessness.
Krista Sinor, an ex-girlfriend of Calhoun’s, previously told The Oregonian/OregonLive that Calhoun would sell drugs and was romantically involved with some of the women he is now accused of killing.
Calhoun has not been charged in the death of a fifth woman, 22-year-old Ashley Real, who reported to police that Calhoun strangled her in November, 2022, according to her father. Portland police responded to the case but determined it happened outside their jurisdiction, according to a law enforcement source previously cited by the paper.
Real disappeared the following March and was found dead in a pond in Eagle Creek a month later.
Now 40, Calhoun grew up in the Troutdale area but dropped out of high school and was already a convicted felon by age 19, when he pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in Baker County, records show.
He had been arrested at least eight more times when he was convicted in 2019 for assaulting a Portland police officer, burglary and car theft and was sentenced to four years in state prison.
Calhoun had served roughly half the punishment when then-Gov. Kate Brown commuted the rest of his sentence in 2021 for his service fighting wildfires on a prison work crew.
Defense attorneys Shelley Aschenbrenner and Cameron Taylor have met with senior prosecutors Melissa Marrero and Todd Jackson in open court for only a few brief scheduling conferences since the case was filed.
Circuit Judge Celia Howes canceled deadlines to file motions in the case on July 31. Aschenbrenner and Taylor have said they are sifting through terabytes of evidence provided by the state.
The defense declined to comment on the new indictment.
Prosecutors reconvened the six-person grand jury overseeing Calhoun’s case and presented new evidence in recent months. Jurors formally returned the superseding indictment Monday.
Calhoun has waived his right to appear in court for scheduling matters and hasn’t exercised his right to a bail hearing or asked for settlement negotiations.
A 17-week trial is tentatively scheduled to begin in February 2027.
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